THESE ARE LOW QUALITY RESIZED COPIES IT WAS A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY, LITTLE SHADE AND HOT AS HELL, I DID MY BEST TO GET THEM DONE AND BACK IN THE A/C AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I HAVE A CRAPPY CRAPPY KIT LENS EF 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

.... AND THEY WANTED HDR LOOKING SHOTS, BLACK AND WHITE, ETC.

I'M POSTING SOME RANDOM GOOD (NOT GREAT) AND SOME BAD ONES SO YOU CAN SEE MY RANGE,.... PLEASE BE KIND !

I know you did your best with your current gear. IF this is your long term career, PLEASE start invest $$$ into FF body and some L lenses. The IQ on these pictures look like everyday photos(not wedding) - I'm sorry to say that.

You seem to have passion and skills as wedding shooter. However, your current gear seems to limit you from being a great shooter.

ok after looking at the raw and giving it a quick run through adobe camera raw (same functions as lightroom, i didnt want to setup a whole catalogue )

it's a good shot exposure is spot on it quite sharp focus is on the brides eyes it was good you stopped the lens down a bit f6.3if you'd gone f8 it probably would have been a bit sharper

all i did was add a little clarity, punched up the vibrance added a little saturationwarmed it slightly and added a little magentapulled up the black point a bit

I added in 45 sharpening with a mask of around 30 and added a little noise reduction to clean up the aps-c sensor noisealso a slight curve adjustment boosting the shadows slightly

I really think the issue is using photomatix it's softening the images considerably and gives the skin tones a sickly look

I think the camera and lens is fine its the post processing that needs a bit of workIf you are going to get into more of this stuff i would recommend getting lightroom its quite cheap, fast and effective

this is also with camera faithfull, the adobe standard setting is a bit warmer, saturated and contrasty

Thank you very much and I agree my post processing skills need A LOT of work, I've only started doing "processing" in the last year'ish.

I've added to my list of "gear" to buy for this hobby of mine, Adobe Lightroom. Just not now, I'm strapped for cash and a new lens is at the top of the list.

I also agree photomatix ONLY works in JPEG and well I know I'm loosing LOTS of sharpness when I use DPP to convert from CR2 to JPEG. Does Adobe LR work in RAW? Can you process HDR in Adobe LR?

Thanks for taking the time to work on this, it's one thing to be a critic, it's another and more admirable to actually help a guy and check his actual productand work with that product to help INVESTIGATE theroot cause.

Photomatix has a lightroom plugin which you can install so can run it within LR!

Lightroom works with all raw files I usually convert the files to DNG lightroom operates on all files in prophoto RGB and then you convert to SRGB or adobe rgb when you export the files.

if you really want a new lens and are strapped for cash the absolutely best bang for buck you will get is the 40mm f2.8 STM

but honestly to me it looks like there is nothing wrong with your 18-135 its producing fine imageswork on your post processing while you save up for L glass and get the 40mm to satisfy your lens craving it really stands shoulder to shoulder with most L lenses in IQ

$150 ish when on sale its an absolute bargain and is as sharp across the frame as a good copy 24-70 f2.8 mk 1 is in the center and it kills the L lens in the corners bokeh on the 40mm is very very similar to the 70-200 f2.8 II

i would say get this lens, lightroom and maybe look at a flash and some of those new yongnuo 622 trigger by the sounds of it they deliver the goods for a bargain price

then save up for a longer lens

keep using the 18-135 but just remember to keep it stopped down and you will still produce good imagesas i said there is nothing wrong with that image you sent me, you nailed the exposure and focus was good

another tip for the areas of heavy greenery is i like to desaturate the green channel to stop it overpowering the peopleand the green foliage looks a bit more muted and cool

Thank you very much and I agree my post processing skills need A LOT of work, I've only started doing "processing" in the last year'ish.

I've added to my list of "gear" to buy for this hobby of mine, Adobe Lightroom. Just not now, I'm strapped for cash and a new lens is at the top of the list.

I also agree photomatix ONLY works in JPEG and well I know I'm loosing LOTS of sharpness when I use DPP to convert from CR2 to JPEG. Does Adobe LR work in RAW? Can you process HDR in Adobe LR?

Thanks for taking the time to work on this, it's one thing to be a critic, it's another and more admirable to actually help a guy and check his actual productand work with that product to help INVESTIGATE theroot cause.

+100 to wickidwombat !

Peace!

If it helps, you can do what I'm about to do.

I'm going to sign up to "enroll" at a local community college locally. I'll pay $50 for the registration fee and they'll give me a EDU photo id.

With this, I can then buy the Adobe products with the HUGE educational discount. I'm going for the full blown CS6 Production Suite...I can get it for like $499 regular price like $1499 or so (I'll have to go look for exact #'s).

But even if you only want one or two programs, this is a good way to get a HUGE discount.

And yes, I've read the TOS, and even with educational version, you are perfectly free and legal to use it for money making commercial uses.

So, for a bit of time, a $50 investment, you'll be able to get a lot of all sorts of software for a substantial educational discount.

Just registering for school and getting the ID, you needing even sign up to take a course in most places to get the ID.

...has more features IMO, yeah there are a few things (Only an hour of playing around with LR) that LR can do more than ACDSee, but it's about the same, I mean, it's manipulating an image, if the image is already crappy (in my case because I have a F&^%ing kit lens 18-135mm S) then there is ONLY so much ACDSee and LR are going to fix.

*Le sigh* I think I need to focus more on my actions while taking pictures,learning my camera more and ... LEARNING HOW TO SHOOT.

Manual mode is just so damn hard, either I overexpose, get noise, no depth, get blurry shots, etc. etc.

...has more features IMO, yeah there are a few things (Only an hour of playing around with LR) that LR can do more than ACDSee, but it's about the same, I mean, it's manipulating an image, if the image is already crappy (in my case because I have a F&^%ing kit lens 18-135mm S) then there is ONLY so much ACDSee and LR are going to fix.

*Le sigh* I think I need to focus more on my actions while taking pictures,learning my camera more and ... LEARNING HOW TO SHOOT.

Manual mode is just so damn hard, either I overexpose, get noise, no depth, get blurry shots, etc. etc.

Peace!

Hey, nice to see the results. You must be happy to havet the first one done. The other guys are better skilled to give advice. I have one comment though. The picture where he holds her from behind, they are in the centre of the frame. Try to change a little bit in the composition and it will pop out more. Google portrait tips, three are tons of great articles on the subject. Ive learned alot from it.

LR is great and again you can learn tons just from online material. I look forward to see more on your FB.

...has more features IMO, yeah there are a few things (Only an hour of playing around with LR) that LR can do more than ACDSee, but it's about the same, I mean, it's manipulating an image, if the image is already crappy (in my case because I have a F&^%ing kit lens 18-135mm S) then there is ONLY so much ACDSee and LR are going to fix.

*Le sigh* I think I need to focus more on my actions while taking pictures,learning my camera more and ... LEARNING HOW TO SHOOT.

Manual mode is just so damn hard, either I overexpose, get noise, no depth, get blurry shots, etc. etc.

...has more features IMO, yeah there are a few things (Only an hour of playing around with LR) that LR can do more than ACDSee, but it's about the same, I mean, it's manipulating an image, if the image is already crappy (in my case because I have a F&^%ing kit lens 18-135mm S) then there is ONLY so much ACDSee and LR are going to fix.

*Le sigh* I think I need to focus more on my actions while taking pictures,learning my camera more and ... LEARNING HOW TO SHOOT.

Manual mode is just so damn hard, either I overexpose, get noise, no depth, get blurry shots, etc. etc.

Peace!

i highly recomend the scott kelby lightroom book its got lots of easy to follow tutorials

As for the convert from RAW to JPEG, are you sure you don't lose sharpness? I could have sworn I saw some sharpness drop off, but then again, I'm making use of a large 46" Plasma monitor and maybe it's just my monitor and old eyes.

Lastly, thank you very much to all the Canon Rumor folks, such a great bunch of folks, I just came from another forums where they're rude, pre-madonna, and down right mean.